Aw Yeah Revolution! issue 1

Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	April 5, 2017
Cover date	February 2017
Written by	Art Baltazar
Art by	Art Baltazar
Letters by	Art Baltazar
Editor	David Hedgecock
Assistant editor	David Mariotte

Baron Karza sets his sights on the Orbsah Gem in order to attain the powers of his idol Snake Eyes and other heroes.

Synopsis

In the subatomic realm of Microspace, tiny tyrant Baron Karza delightedly announces that "revolution has begun"—Revolution the comic book, that is, featuring his favourite character Snake Eyes! Once he's done reading his comic, Karza turns his attention back to being evil, and informs his equine sidekick Andromeda of his plan to travel to Earth, where he will steal the mystical Orbsah Gem. The Transformers are currently battling over the gem, but Karza is confident they will be no match for him and the wickedness he is planning.

Elsewhere in the galaxy, Rom the Space Knight tracks a group of Dire Wraiths to an asteroid. He tries to talk the creatures into giving up, but they attack him and he is forced to fight back, pushing the Wraiths away with a forcefield. Just then, Karza teleports to the asteroid, appearing inside Rom's forcefield, much to the Space Knight's confusion. Karza abducts Rom, teleporting him away, leaving the confused group of Wraiths behind.

On Earth, G.I. Joe are ambushed by Cobra Commander and a legion of Cobra troopers. Karza teleports into the midst of the mayhem and, ever-so-slightly starstruck, introduces himself to Snake Eyes... then abducts him as well!

Finally, Karza teleports himself to the resting place of the Orbsah Gem, deep within a mountain. When he snatches up the gem—which is handily to scale with his tiny body—the mountain begins to tremble and collapse. The tremor catches the attention of the Transformers, still fighting outside, and Optimus Prime orders his Autobots to retreat to safety. But before Optimus can join his troops in rolling out, Karza appears and takes Prime as his third and final captive!

Back in the Microverse, Karza addresses his three captives, held in energy bubbles, and announces his plan to use the Orbsah Gem to steal their powers: Rom's space-tracking abilities, Prime's ability to transform, and Snake Eye's incomparable gosh-darned coolness. The presence of these three regular-sized beings in the tiny realm of Microspace is not without consequence, however: the molecular stability of the entire dimension is compromised by their presence. This disruption is detected by Karza's enemies, the Micronauts, who assemble to save their world!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	G.I. Joe	Cobra	Others
Optimus Prime (5) Bumblebee (6) Arcee (15)	Megatron (3) Soundwave (4)	Scarlett (9) Snake Eyes (10) Roadblock (11) Duke (14)	Cobra Commander (12) Cobra troopers (13)	Baron Karza (1) Andromeda (2) Rom (7) Dire Wraiths (8) Acroyear (16) Space Glider (17) Biotron (18) Microtron (19)

Notes

Transformers references

Megatron is coloured based on his original Marvel comic colour scheme, with a blue-black helmet and bright blue gun barrel on his back.

Other franchise references

Karza's horse Andromeda was a figure from the original Micronauts toyline that could combine with Karza into a centaur form via their shared construction, built around interchangeable magnetic parts. Karza assumed this form in IDW's Micronauts #5, but Andromeda never appeared in IDW's version of the mythos.
Oziron Rael and Larissa are missing from the ranks of the Micronauts; presumably, this is a deliberate move to include only the characters directly based on figures from the original Micronauts toyline, as Oz and Larissa fall more under the header of "loosely inspired by."

Other notes

The Revolution comic that Karza reads takes its cover from Art Baltazar's composite cover for the series, but with the "Aw Yeah Revolution!" title.
Orbsah is, of course, "Hasbro" spelled backwards.
Originally solicited for release in February 2017, IDW's ongoing printing delays resulted in this issue not making it out until the first week of April.

Covers (3)

Regular cover: Karza and our heroes, by Art Baltazar
Subscription cover: Acroyear, Rom, and Optimus Prime, by Art Baltazar
Retailer incentive cover: Optimus, Rom, Snake Eyes, and Karza, by Franco Aureliani